Category: Federal Forum Posters
Purpose: Antibiotic stewardship is an essential part of today’s health care system and is currently a required standard by the Joint Commission. Effective stewardship programs have been shown to decrease antibiotic resistance, reduce Clostridium difficile infections, reduce healthcare costs, and improve patient outcomes. At our healthcare institution, the highest volume of antibiotic prescriptions are generated in the outpatient setting. However, current antibiotic stewardship efforts are overwhelmingly focused on inpatient prescriptions. The objective of this evaluation is to describe current antibiotic prescribing practices in the outpatient setting to identify potential target areas for antibiotic stewardship intervention.
Methods: In order to complete this evaluation, all outpatient antibiotic prescriptions will be reviewed across four separate weeks. Each week of data will be collected from a different season during the year to provide a thorough overview of current antibiotic prescribing practices. Outpatient prescriptions will be gathered by utilizing pre-built reports available through the electronic medical record. In order to guide future antibiotic stewardship interventions, the following questions will be evaluated with the obtained prescription data: 1) What is the distribution of antibiotics prescribed? 2) What is the distribution of indications for antibiotic prescriptions? 3) What is the distribution of prescribing specialty? 4) What is the distribution of duration of therapy for outpatient prescriptions? Each of these questions will be evaluated as possible areas of further research as well as areas for antibiotic stewardship intervention.
Results: Not applicable
Conclusion: Not applicable
John Gardner
– PGY1 Pharmacy Practice Resident, Salt Lake City VA Healthcare System, Salt Lake City, UT125 Views